Arlene Beckles, a former Norcross City Council member, defeated Sonia Lopez in the open race Tuesday to replace retiring Georgia Rep. Pedro Marin, according to unofficial preliminary results.
Just over 300 people voted in the Democratic runoff Tuesday for state House District 96. Each Georgia state House district contains about 60,000 residents, and this district has just under 30,000 registered voters. The race had the lowest turnout by far in the legislative runoffs.
“The demographic that we have, they’re not engaged, so we’re going to have to do a better job of getting out and going out and doing things with them, meeting them where they are,” Beckles told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Beckles and Lopez won the most votes in last month’s three-way Democratic primary, in which 1,290 votes were cast. No Republicans are running to represent the heavily Democratic district, so Beckles is the presumptive winner of the legislative seat.
Marin, the Legislature’s longest-serving Latino, is exiting after 22 years in office. He and two others were the first Latinos elected to the Georgia Legislature in the 2002 election.
The district, one of the most diverse in the state, includes parts of Norcross, Duluth and unincorporated western Gwinnett. The area is known for attracting immigrants from all over the world. Beckles is an immigrant from Barbados, while Lopez is an immigrant from El Salvador.
Beckles served one term on the Norcross City Council before losing reelection last year. She works remotely as an information technology and cybersecurity project manager for a hospital chain in south Florida.
Beckles said her priorities as a legislator will include affordable housing, access to health care and education for high school graduates who are not immediately college bound. Gwinnett County Chairwoman Nicole Love Hendrickson and Norcross Mayor Craig Newton endorsed her.
Lopez is active in several local organizations and runs Asami-Atl, a nonprofit serving families with children in the Norcross area. She also campaigned for affordable housing, as well as low-cost two-year degrees and increased public school funding.
She was not available Wednesday for comment.
Also in western and central Gwinnett, J. Gregory Howard defeated Fred Clayton in the Republican state Senate District 7 runoff. That district is mostly north and east of House District 96, with some overlap.
Howard will face Democratic incumbent Nabilah Islam Parkes in the November general election.
James Salzer and Brian O’Shea contributed to this article.
About the Author
